Core Narratives
Micro Story: ''Eikon'' Macro Beat: Monkey Wrench EIKON (west coast & east coast media) Graphic Novel In the beginning, there was a time before the world of man bore witness to the presence of light and dark entities. An era before time itself begun, where in a majestic rift in time and space placed over a sea of stars being born forming the forever threshold; a place where the light and shade dwelled for eons after vacating the void. The void a place of forever dark and nothingness, the absence of life itself. For Eons passed where the light and shade being of separate consciousness therefore sharing the same essence of life that formed this beautiful union where the sky and water formulating massive lands creating great divides between land and water. The Light bringing the warmth of the first sight of the sun and spawning its quintessence of life on land and air by bringing green pastures as it covered the land and its shores; creating nature. Bringing the form of creatures that brought the light and its warmth from land to land, giving the first dawn of day. And with the shade covering nature with a balance of cool air that came only after the creation of night. Giving balance for growth in nature and spawning night creatures that helped spread the seeds of life over time itself alongside the creatures of the day. Now with this spark of life forming, the light and shade placed these creations within a sphere creating a world and time to forever balance life itself. And they called it Earth; and these creatures of both day and night praised the night and shade that in turn brought great harmony within nature for some time. And as the Earth grew, so did the essence of nature as it gave the creatures that occupied it for both day and night, abilities that suited its nature from within. And for this brought a greater harmony that made the lands rich in soil where the first heartbeat was heard at the highest peak of the mountains that seem to touch the sky, surrounded by earth’s most beautiful pastures. And for a great time, all the creatures gathered here to show and give thanks to the light and shade. They saw this place to be holy and high in significance as to being the place where day and night touched and in this place, the creatures all called it Eikon. And from this heartbeat was viewed as a great omen to the creatures because it was the time of great change on earth due to nature now spawning the first creation dedicated to the light and shade. And that was the birth of humanity and both the light and shade saw this as a great event because humanity were beings of both day and night. And the first of humanity being born from the richest of soil from nature, giving them unique abilities to walk during both day and night as well. And from this new union, came the first of man and woman. As the light and shade looked over creation and as they begun to teach and show man the splendors of magic and the great wonders behind it for over a millennium; out of the silence there came a crackle in the sky causing unrest amongst the creatures. Now with the light being on earth looking over man, the shade turned to this crackle and spoke to it for it seemed to be a calm voice lended as a whisper only heard by the shade. And for a time, it spoke only to the shade and it seemed to be interested in the works and creations of the light and shade and how it all came to be. When this voice spoke, it would send chills and a sense of fear throughout the land of both day and night creatures. Bringing unrest to the light; yet for the lights love for humanity, the light ignored the slight distortion around the earth. And for a few of the creatures of the day would often speak and plead with the light to turn its gaze to the unearthly commotion that seem to plague these creature’s curiosity. These creatures stood and looked very similar to that of humanity yet noticeable differences, their ears with a long pointy tip and their hair as white as the purest snow. Eyes glowed within the reach of the sun. These creatures of high intellect, would later come to call themselves elves and thus so named all the creatures of the day and those of the night. Elves that showed a mystic bond with nature. Felt that the new presence that caused the confusion as unholy and looked at humanity as the reason for this monovalent presence. So as time went on and man begun to grow and took their rightful place amongst the creatures, there came a change in the shade. A scene of unrest and envy as the light took attention to the displacement in the heart of the shade and finally took notice for the presence that fowled upon the shades ear and saw it for the bringer of the void. The light Saw Crevasse; the devour of light. The light pleaded with the shade to see the poison that has taken home in the mind of the shade and the tension between the creatures of both day and night, causing a great divide between humanity and the elves. And out of nowhere, came the first murder or death taken by another. Crevasse tricked the elves into thinking that man was impure and unworthy of the magic they possessed and would use it against the shade in hope of assisting the light into consuming the shade and all that came from it. So, the elves were the first to strike against humanity. And so, with this act the shade was manipulated into thinking that humanity will be the fall all of creation and would consume the shade for the light and destroy all creatures on earth. And so, the shade grew furious and was then consumed by the shade transforming into darkness and witness the creatures of the night become increasingly vicious and changed in form as it begun to plague humanity. And with man being caught in the middle, led to the dawn of the great holy war of light against darkness. And for the light gathered all those from both day and night creatures and constructed a warrior of great power, an angel of the light and the essence and manifestation from the light named Eron. Of beauty and grace, she also banded together a special group of chosen humans that formed the nexus; protector of earth and all its creatures to fight against the horde of dark blood thirsty creatures that once was those of the shade now consumed by darkness they have plagued the lands of the earth led by the darkness chosen champion, a demon of great similarities to that of Eron yet also embodies the essence that was once the shade. His name was Nero. And for over a few millenniums, Eron and Nero have been locked in an eternal war over man and all of creation and so came a time where eron led a campaign against the dark that ended in trapping nero and was able to convince him to finally join with her against crevasse and the dark creatures that chose to remain with him by coming together and using their combined powers to form a great veil that would separate the world of man from the clutches of crevasses influence yet in the mist of forming this veil; eron and nero both then realized that the veil did far more then they hoped or were willing to sacrifice. The veil not only separated man from crevasse it also stripped the world of magic and separated the creatures of both day and night from the world of man as well. Causing such great pain and confusion which led man to believe that creatures that once ruled and roamed the earth in the beginning wasn’t anything more then. Mythical and folklore…. Micro Story: ''Dorian Gray and The Forever Brush'' Macro Story: Grand Success Based on Oscar Wilde's philosophical novel The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), Basil Hallward is an English painter in the Victoria Era (1837-1901) who was described by many as sensitive. A sugar-coated word for homosexual. Before making the masterpiece that is the portrait of Dorian Gray, Hallward was once an amateur, a son, a pubescent boy whose circumstances, including struggles, pitfalls, and silent heartbreaks, contributed to the man that they have predicated in a single word, 'sensitive'. Born into money and social meritocracy, Hallward at first had struggled to fit in, digging deeper and deeper into himself to find something productive and useful for society to consume with high moral regard. Only son to retired theater actors, Hallward fell a mile away from the tree because he has terrible stage fright. Just imagine the amount of pressure he's on. Once in school, he was assigned a featured leading role and couldn't control his projectile vomitting in front of the audience. He was 12 then. By the age of 17, Basil dabbled on the arts. There's something solitary about a particular medium of art, painting, that piqued his interest and has calmed his nerves to never face an audience to show what he's done. An extension of himself, per se, Hallward first begun painting landscapes. Right outside his vast manor, he mixes green with brown and yellow with red; all of which are fun to do, but yet to paint a name for himself. Blank canvass after blank canvass, sketches on papyrus that look hurried yet seemed honest work, Hallward has hit a painter's block, so to speak, where all of his efforts deemed uninspiring and insignificant for all sorts of factors, including, in his defense, the slavish commitment of nature as a subject of his art. He knew he has to find something more - more meaningful, more expressive than just what one can find in their backyard. Simultaneously finding the heart of his work of art, Hallward met up with an old colleague, Dorian Gray. The man is dashing, devilish handsome in appearance and disposition. Hallward knew his frequent engagements with Dorian Gray will only simply pour fuel to his burning desire for him. Fear of yet another unrequited love, Hallward persistently put all of his perverse emotions of Grey in his private collection, Grey's soft and supple lips, the waves of his sleek hair, the hallows of his chest when he's wearing a loose shirt, and his smile, that infallibly wakes all the hairs on his body up, his body's natural defense against hot rapidly meeting cold. Dorian Gray finds out Basil is a painter, and requests if he can commission an oil painting of his portrait. Gray confessed he knows he's a sex god, and would love to remember the day he was, before he rots through time. Hallward naturally couldn't say no, and had arranged a private showcase with him, despite himself that someone is going to actually watch him paint; it will open old wounds of stage fright. That night, Hallward was sleepless. He awoke in the wee hours of the night, and decided to get some air, anxiously wondering how and what Dorian Gray, a man he wanted for so long to impress and find eligible for his liking, will ultimately think of his, if not new style, a desperately personal display of affection. He wandered not too far when he noticed an entryway, bizarrely darker than the usual night, of which the glowing blue lining flickers rather subtly if one looks hard enough. Hallward step into the fissure in between this world and Umbra, the Shade world. Inside, he found all sorts of chaos. the sky is dark, a little shade lighter for where he is standing, and waters that seem to call him, crying and giggling. Hallward was scared, and quietly and quickly retraces steps back to the entryway. As he was about to take another careful step, his attention was narrowed to the only beautiful thing among the dust and dilapidation. A paintbrush, black as a werewolf's hair and as smooth as a siren's skin, Hallward has to have it, regardless if it gets him into trouble. Like a thief of the night, he swoops it from the darkness, and makes a leap back into his world. For the first time in the longest time of what we can only recognize and label as a 'miracle', Hallward could say his latest work of the portrait of Dorian Gray as a masterpiece. The Forever Brush is a Shade invention. Dorian Gray will never age nor die. Gray found this out when one stormy evening, he got hit by a car, and was taken to the infirmary as DOA (Dead On Arrival). But to their surprise and a 'medical miracle', Gray lived. Not knowing how or why he is like this, the painting was in that car, damaged beyond repair, and the indestructible painting could be in anyone's hands by now. One look of Dorian Gray onto the painting, Death, also known as, Grim Reaper will have to collect all the years he has lived, and the beautiful Dorian Gray will be reduced to ashes. Period Drama/Fantasy Protagonist: Basil Hallward Antagonist: Hallward's immediate family and snooty friends Main Supporting Actor: Dorian Gray Target Market: Men and Women ages 20-35 (especially LGBQT) Media Habits: A LGBQT story is a trend, so this classic Oscar Wilde story with a fantastical twist will piqued the audience interest, as they have been with the novel-turned-movie, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter ''(2010). A story about the enigmatic Dorian Gray, and the homosexual romance with Basil Hallward in the Eikón universe, can usher the audience in the story world of Umbra. '''Micro Story: ''Entertwin' Macro Beat: All In, Venti-Failure Fraternal twins Arthur and Polly seem to be your average high school seniors as they go about their day to day lives. But they are actually the children of Eron and Nero, the creators of the Neron Veil (an invisisble barrier that separates magic and the creatures of light and shade from the world) and all life on earth. Polina is the social butterfly and intelligent twin, she is the captain of the volleyball team and student body president. While Arthur is just trying to find his place in the world with his head always in the clouds. But their Grandma Lynn couldn't be prouder for either of them. Graduation is just a few short months away, when the veil begins to fade. Arthur is having dreams of when he and his sister were younger and the story their grandmother told them. The next day the veil comes down in one final swoop and all the power that kept the veil up was returned to both Eron and Nero in their sleep. As the power settles inside the twins it sets off a ward to all those who carry a Neron Amulet alerting them that a being of powerful magic is near and where to find them. Grandma Lynn grabs her amulet as it lights up. Knowing that the twins have been returned their parents gifts and have inadvertently set off a "Come get me signal" she grabs her old weapons to face off against the coming enemy. The fighting wakes both Pollina and Arthur and they go to check what is happening only to find their grandma impaled by Nonth. Alucard a rogue vampire gets the signal and recognizes the power immediately and rushes to the source and saves both Arthur and Pollina in the nick of time from Nonth and narrowly escapes. Alucard becomes their mentor and trains them to harness some of the power inside of them. He introduces them to the Neron Paladins at Pidgeon Hawk (a group of magic wielding humans and creatures of light and shade formed since the creation of the veil to protect this world and prevent the resurfacing of Crevasse and his dark forces) as the grandchildren of Lynn to keep their identities secret. After training with the Paladins and Alucard the twins feel they are ready to take on crevasse despite their mentors warnings. They set out to the dark city of Bagas without any help and are met once again with Nonth. The skinwalker plays with them and shows them the true power gap between them. But just as they were warned they are nearly killed by Nonth when Alucard comes in again to save the day and almost gets himself killed. Now that they understand the gap in power they are convinced to return to Pigeon Hawk and return to their training. Action/Fanstasy Protagonist: Arthur and Polina Antagonist: Nonth the first skin walker. Main Supporting Characters : Alucard - Rogue Vampire and mentor to twins Dorian Grey - An immortal human. Target Market: Men and Women ages 16-28 Media Habits: '''Micro Story: ''Eikon Wa''r' Macro beat: The main showdown. Art and Polly have faced the dark forces before and leaned they were not fully prepared. So now they train with Alucard and Dorian. With the twins now as trained as possible they head out to fight crevasse and his forces. Fantasy/Action Protagonist: Art and Polly Antagonist: Crevasse Supporting Characters: Alucard, Dorian Gray, Icarus Vinge Locations: Idoltria, Bagas, Eikon Micro Story: Show Me Your Teeth Macro beat: Enter Bizarro world and Grand Success Alucard first born son to Fera and Tonus, is sitting at the bar in Chiaroscuro. Chiaroscuro is a place where all beings of light and shade can come and have a drink in peace. Anyone who starts anything in the bar would have to deal with it's owner Rene. Rene is known to both the sides as a fearsome warrior and general so out of fear and respect the rules of Chiaroscuro are obeyed. Rene makes his way over to Alucard offers him a drink and his ear to his long time friend Alucard. Back when the veil was created everyone was lost. Nero and Eron had all but disappeared from the world and there was no sign of Crevasse either. But Alucard knew that their should be someone to protect the world from Crevasse if he should ever destroy the veil. So he set out to find others who could be banded together to protect everyone when he meets Miral. But as he is a vampire and creature of the shade he is often thrown to the side in fear that he is a monster turned by Crevasse. So he hides this part of himself in hopes that when they get to know him they will accept him. Miral and Alucard begin to build the Neron Paladins, but his secret could only be kept for so long. He is betrayed by Miral when they find out he was a vampire. Out of respect miral tells him to run but if he saw him again they would meet as enemies. This leads to Alucard going rogue and instead protecting the world from beyond the veil on his own terms. Drama Protagonist: Alucard Antagonist: Miral Locations: Eikon Micro Story: ''Grandma Lynn'' Macro Beat: All In The Neron Paladin is a secret organization that protects Eikón from all manifestations of myth and magic, and lives by the oath to fight side by side against the Shade. Lynn has long served the organization, and decided to leave due to dubiety over time of the objective and purpose of the group. When the latest sighting of a pestilent Siren emerging from the fresh waters of a small town in Sprouse, Pagūs, and that the male population is dwindling every week, found disemboweled along the shoreline, a meeting had to be called and silence the open secret existence of Sirens (creatures of the Shade). Lynn seize this as a opportunity to talk with commander Aude Miral for her official resignation. Aude Miral took this as a heavy blow. Aude Miral couldn't believe what Lynn has become; he blamed her insistent participation of menial activities around Eikón, missing meetings when convened, that which her interest slowly diverted to for instance, Mahjong. In truth, Lynn decided to resign from her Neron duties because she doesn't believe anymore. She has gone through the entirety of her own life without any influence of Light or Shade, fairies haven't had influence her decisions, Jinns haven't had listened to her three wishes; she only came this far and this long in this organization because one, she fiercely had believed things will turn around on her fortune someday, something or someone will open her eyes to a Phoenix rising before her eyes, and two, the practice had become an old habit that doesn't die, that quitting then seemed taking a huge part of her; her soul doesn't nor won't recognize the body as its vessel. Lynn was ostracized by those she once thought were her friends. It was evident the only reason they treat each other with kindness and hospitality is because of the Neron practice. At first, it was petty, deliberately ignoring her at a chance encounter in shops or on the sidewalk, then slowly became depressing that she goes on living alone; she welcomes the bitter truth of isolation. May 24th, Lynn was home alone, idly watching the news of a man getting bitten by a vampire, the Neron amulet flickers aglow, like an incoming phone call. The amulet shows specific numbers. Lynn quickly gets a pen and paper and writes the numbers. She knows they're coordinates to a location. She couldn't believe her eyes. Something so powerful has come to Eikón. As once a paladin of Neron all her life, regardless she has already turned a new leaf, she is as though bound by her own faith to go seek and find. The coordinates lead her to the third borough, Limmus. There, for the first time in the longest time of what we can only recognize and label as a 'miracle', the Neron veil slits open. Out came two a pair of twin babies. As suddenly as the twins came, two beautiful beings come out shortly after. Lynn knew they were Light first creation Eron and Shade first creation Nero. They seem perturbed. The Neron Veil's small tear becomes wider and unsightly to make room for what looks like four figures of nothing, Crevasse's four henchmen. Nero and Eron look powerless as one of the henchman suck the life out of them with only their mouth opened, and a shrill cry that no one seemed to hear. Lynn spent no time to waste, nor had she had any weapons to combat these Shade beings. She got onto her knees and tried to pull Nero out from the hysteria. A henchman saw this, and with one wave of the hand, Lynn was thrown meters away. She feels powerless, but charges on. Suddenly, the amulet glows. It glows a powerful, blinding sheets of light that upon contact by the nothingness of the henchmen, they start to scream in pain. All four were stricken by fiery light that obliterates their nothing existence, as though erasing a mistake. Confused yet victorious, Lynn got onto her feet and walk toward the velvet-swaddled twins. They look as though nothing had happened, sleeping soundly as they are adorably. Her cure for loneliness have arrived, and assumed responsibility as the guardians of the direct descendants of Light and Shade. She called the twins, Arthur and Polina, divine names derived from Greek mythology, Artemis and Apollo. Drama/Action/Fantasy Protagonist: Grandma Lynn Antagonist: Four Henchmen of Crevasse Main Supporting Actor: Aude Miral, commander of the Nexxus Paladin society Target Market: Men and women ages 20-35 Media Habits: A backstory is always a great move for character development, arc, and motivation. With these, possibly only these, the audience will stay or leave the story, especially that this age range is moved by a story through relatable emotions, including betrayal and isolation. Micro Story: ''The Foundling In Idolatria'' Macro Beat: Neron Veil is broken Primo and Alula Vinge are one of the wealthiest families in Idolatria, only because what was once a family-owned hot air balloon business became the most sought-after attraction for local and tourists alike. They have expanded to United States of Atlantis, tapping into if not all, most aerial recreation, including but not limited to the Vinge airlines for the public, and the VV (VingeVenus), where the god-complex individuals can fly anywhere the world by private jets, namely the Aureola celebrities. Money cannot buy happiness, but I'd rather cry in my Ferrari, Primo and Alula tend to argue on this adage. Alula has lived through the birth defect that robbed her the gift of conception. She blames herself like clockwork in the often times Primo finds himself, or themselves, a child laughing, playing, or even crying. The Vinges have finally decided that they're ready as a couple, rather than the pressure among friends and family alike, to take the big step of adopting. One hopeful morning, Alula wears her best dress and most fragrant perfume, like going to the Prom, and hopefully meets the love of her life - besides her husband of course. At the Cindellare Orphanage, The Vinges signed for an application; the matron raises an eyebrow when Alula Vinge takes out a coveted VingeVenus pen, that which only seen on TV used by actors and models, onto which a mixture of gold and purple diamond, and that only 100 pens are made every five years. When the i's have been dotted, t's have been crossed, and below the dotted lines, signatures have been signed, the matron ushers the Vinges to a ginger-dusted boy in the playroom, among the other kids that won't be adopted that day. His name, Icarus. The matron looks at him with an air of envy. Money, for her, can really actually buy happiness. For instance, what happiness she would emulate to get one of those VingeVenus pens. Icarus Vinge obviously has his own room, the size so exorbitant, there's nothing else he can think of to fill the void, just as he doesn't know how to fill the void of loneliness as a child. As an orphan for as long as he can remember, making friends, even with other orphans, is so foreign to him, as though it's a skill biological parents at some point must sit down and do 'the talk'. But he grew up not knowing his real parents were, and he's living imperfectly normal without; but of course, the absence gave presence to the emptiness that couldn't be filled. School is not like school in Cindellare. Kids at Fire Luc University are far unfriendlier than he could imagine. He doesn't even know how to use money to his advantage - he's only 10. A waft of his VingeVenus pen was deemed useless to the other kids - it's actually, really just a pen. He tried to buy a classmate lunch. That turned out to be a bad plan, because if you give a man a fish, he'll never learn how to fish, and will keep coming back. All efforts of a nouveau rich boy to no avail, Icarus curls up to his own little comfort zone, and goes back to drawing. If not every day, most of his free time is the VingeVenus and a paper, idly wasting ink from one of the most elusive pen in the world, to draw fictional characters, and with them are mythological creatures, riding, training, and ultimately fighting, in such child-like details. Money can only reach a point of happiness. For his 16th birthday, Icarus wanted a horse with wings, also known as a Pegasus. His foster parents love him so much, and will go great lengths to get anything he wanted, but no amount of money can make them buy, let alone domesticate, a Pegasus. Icarus is patient with them, even though the actual birthday wish is far-fetched - pegasuses don't exist. He doesn't want anymore clothes, no more pair of shoes from Nike; yet another emptiness cannot be filled: A pet Pegasus. Icarus, one night, awoke in the middle of the night, because he swore he heard a galloping. Of like a horse. Thinking what's a wild horse playing at 2 in the morning, it must have escaped from the Vinge stable. He slips into his Vinge-engraved slippers, and walks through the mist of the vast Vinge estate. He follows the sound of the familiar tapping into the manicured gardens. There, for the first time in the longest time of what we can only recognize and label as a 'miracle', Icarus Vinge is standing inches to an actual Pegasus, majestic and curiously calm. Icarus couldn't be silenced. He rubs his eyes, hurts himself, and that if he was dreaming all this time, that's the meanest trick his body could've done to himself. He treads slowly to the unsuspecting once mythological creature. The pegasus didn't thwart him when Icarus pet it; Icarus starts with the body and moves slowly and carefully to its soft, luscious mane. Icarus' and the pegasus' eyes ultimately meet, hotly driven by compassion, and right there, both somehow knew they needed each other to fill the void of loneliness. He gingerly hops onto the hybrid horse, and leads it to one of the stables hidden and secret, the one stable his foster dad nor any of the several servants will bother checking. He ties the rope securely onto a wooden handle. Icarus has never been seen this happy and fulfilled and that, his parents, if were looking down on him from the heavens, would've cried happy tears for the boy. He quietly goes back to his room as he had left. No money can buy the happiness he has felt for a long time, and right now, he has never needed the VingeVenus pen so irresistably. He takes down one of his drawings from his headboard, and writes on it, next to one of his prized sketches of a winged horse: Crony. Coming-of-age/Fantasy Protagonist: Icarus Vinge Antagonist: Fire Luc students Main Supporting Actors: Primo and Alula Vinge Target Market: Men and women ages 15-25 Media Habits: Coming-of-age stories always have a progressive audience. Teenagers tend to be either active or inactive, depending on their personality. But one thing is for sure: they love social media. The human need for social connection is the nerve that needs to be stimulated once in a while to keep yourself sane. The Foundling In Idolatria is a classic story of a boy and his human need for a friend, regardless if they walk on two or four.